Friday, January 21, 2011

When I started knitting, I proudly proclaimed that I would only ever work on one project at a time. That lasted about a week. I decided that I need to do a progress update on all of my current WIPs in an effort to shame myself into finishing some of them.

I'll start with the oldest first. I started my Mystic Light shawl in October 2009. It was supposed to be my mom's christmas present that year. Eventually it was to become a mother's day present, then her birthday present, and then I just simply ignored it. I'm not even sure where I'm at or how much more work needs to be done on it.

Next up are my La Digitessa socks. The pattern was my Christmas present to myself in 2009. I'm 3/4 done with the first sock. Unfortunately, I tried to get it out last month and couldn't figure out where I was. My row counter did not jive with what the chart said, so there might be a mistake somewhere. I eventually gave up and finished my CPH instead.

My aragorn socks were supposed to be a birthday present for my friend Sarah. Her birthday is in March. I started them in Jan 2010. Sigh.

Next up is my Clapotis. Oh how I love this yarn (Malabrigo lace). Just getting it out to photograph it made me want to work on it. I started it on March 16, 2010. Hopefully I'll finish it some day.

I had such grand plans for my Geodesic cardigan. I even started a KAL group on Raverly and challenged Gnome to a duel. I am neglecting it because I'm kinda scared to do the tucks. I don't think they're hard to do, but I'm still hiding from it. I started it on June 1, 2010. I'm still ahead of Gnome, so technically I'm winning. :)

Finally, the youngest project. I agreed to knit some socks for the host team leader at church. I like them, and they're super easy, but I am easily distracted. Luckily, I've only had them OTN since Jan. 9, 2011, so I'm doing fairly well. I'm using some of the leftover yarn from my Ravelympics Blackberry cardigan, and I bought some grey swish DK to complement it.

I'm not a total lost cause though. I have an FO to show off! I just finished my Toe-Up Slip-Stitch Heel socks made from Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy. They're fraternal, but I still love them.

What am I going to do next? Cast on the Leaf Shawl, of course. Why change my habits now?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

I spent the past weekend at Tempted Estates. I had a fantastic time! I made some new friends too. Laura and Leslie of The Knitgirllls were there, as well as Tracee (Catraggedy), Jessica (showmeyourknits), and Sara (saradknits). Completing the lineup are Muriel (bffofwendy) and Stacy (Tempted). Bob was there too, of course. I managed to knit about a sock and a half. I used Wendy's Toe-Up Slip-Stitch Heel socks pattern and Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy yarn to make my first ever pair of vanilla socks. They're definitely fraternal, which bugs me a little bit, but I still love the colors. I've knit about half of the leg now on the second one.

My triumph of the weekend was finishing Muriel's girasole for her. She didn't want to do the edging, so I did it for her. It would have driven me completely insane for her to leave it unfinished or to take the next year to do a super-easy edging. She claimed on the podcast that she did 1/3 of the edging, but I think that's being overly generous. Because I finished it, I claim it as mine. I even made a ravelry project page for it. Here's a pic of the unblocked FO:

And an example of my contribution:

See? It's not that hard. Moving on.

There is a small shawl swap going on on the Knitgirllls group on Ravelry. This is my first swap. Basically, everyone fills out a questionairre and names are drawn. You use your partner's answers to determine your yarn color choice and pattern. As far as I know, it is a round-robin swap, meaning that the girl I am knitting for does not have my name. Everyone has until March 16 to finish and mail their shawl to their partner.

I took advantage of spending the weekend at my favorite yarn dyer's house to dye some yarn for the swap. I'm making the Leaf Shawl, so I wanted spring green yarn with a little brown in it. Stacy did the green and I added the brown. The brown isn't as dark as I wanted it, but I still adore the yarn. I can only give it away because I'm going to buy a skein or two in the future when I have more cashflow. Here is the yarn in all of its gorgeous beauty:

In the past few weeks, I have purposefully lied at least twice. Both times it was because I was knitting gifts. Remember this? It was Muriel's birthday present.

This was Stacy's thank-you-for-having-me gift. I even went as far as asking her how to block it properly lol. It looks better blocked, but I can't find the pic right away.

BTW, you should watch the latest episode (and all of them, really) of The Knitgirllls. I think you can watch it on their website (linked above), but I prefer to watch it through iTunes. Finally, I have the last Tempted @ 3am sock club package. I won't post a pic here for a week or so to prevent spoilers, but you can see it in the spoilers thread on the Tempted board on Ravelry.

Sorry for the iphone pic, but taking a picture with my good camera would require me to get up from the couch and I am frankly too tired to move. Thank God that tomorrow is Friday. After work, I will be heading to Tempted Estates for a lovely long weekend with several knitters (including both of the Knitgirllls). I call Tempted's house my happy place, and after the week I've had at work, I may not return.

In other news, I am participating in a small shawl swap (say that 10 times fast) on Ravelry. They drew names last night, but I can't tell who I got. I am going to do the Leaf Shawl. This weekend I'll ask Stacy to dye some nice spring green yarn with brown flecks (very similar to the first project pic on the rav page). I think it'll be beautiful! I wonder who drew my name?

About Biomaj5

I am 31 years old. I got married on 2-29-08. We have 2 mini schnauzers, Jake and Sadie.
I'm a lab tech in a Sjogren's Syndrome/Lupus genetics lab. I love music and reading as well as knitting. I started running in January 2012, and I love it. I've run 2 full marathons. I recently bought a road bike so I can start competing in duathlons and triathlons. I'm currently an ASL interpreting student.